Welcome to this day.
A day like any other,
But also a day like no other.
Starting today by taking a deep breath in,
Because you woke up today.
Simply that,
You woke up today.
And what a gift and a blessing that is,
And something that we take for granted every single morning of every single day,
Whenever we wake up and open our eyes again to our life.
It's so easy for us to get trapped in that cyclical world of wake up,
Get up,
Go to work,
Do the things,
Be all the things that we need to be,
Be all the people,
Wear all the hats,
Put on the masks.
We do all of these things day in and day out,
So repetitively and so within the sense of routine,
That we forget what an act of absolute mastery it is,
Simply to open your eyes and be awake.
Simply to inhale and take in a breath of air.
Simply to get out of bed and walk on two feet.
And maybe you don't have some of those abilities,
But simply being alive is the greatest gift of all and an absolute privilege that is not always afforded to everyone.
Sadhguru says it so beautifully when he says something like,
A million people didn't wake up this morning.
This morning that you woke up and you have life,
So many others did not.
So many people are experiencing the grief and the heartache of loss this morning,
Because someone dear to them did not open their eyes and they did not wake up to face this beautiful day.
And so the invitation that is extended to you in this moment is to acknowledge the gift of simply being here,
That gift of life.
And we're going to do a short little breath awareness exercise that's going to help you stay in the present moment.
Because when we are in the present moment,
We are neither thinking about the past,
Ruminating over things that we said or things that we did,
Experiencing regret or absolute shame over things that have happened that we cannot change anymore.
And neither are we looking to the future,
Anticipating things that haven't even come into existence yet,
Things that haven't happened,
Things that do not actually exist.
We spend so much of our lives ruminating about the past and anticipating the future,
That we forget to be in the present moment,
Right here,
Right now,
Where life exists.
And so we're going to take a few moments right now,
Just to come back to presence,
To use our breath as a point of focus,
So that we can neither speed forward in time to the future,
Nor creep back in time to the past.
And as I'm recording this audio for you,
I'm sitting in the beautiful natural setting of the South African Bushveld in the Timbavati Game Reserve up near Hootsprit.
This magical place is where you remember how life is in the moment.
Nature is neither trying to be anything,
Nor striving for perfection,
Nor ruminating about the past.
Nature is simply what is in the moment.
Everything is just unfolding bit by bit,
And it is such a beautiful reminder to us to live in nature with ourselves.
So just gently closing down your eyes,
Whether you're still lying in bed or sitting in a chair,
Wherever you are,
Sitting on the floor,
Lying on a yoga mat,
Just gently lowering your gaze or closing your eyes and placing a hand on your belly.
And we're just going to take a moment to notice the breath,
Notice how it moves in and out of the body.
We're not trying to change the breath,
We're not forcing the inhale or the exhale,
We're just feeling what breath feels like.
And noticing if there's a sound attached to it.
Noticing where the movement is in your body in relation to the breath.
Noticing if the breath is fast or slow.
Just noticing how it feels to breathe.
An act that is so autonomous that we take it for granted as well.
And yet it is our lifeblood that keeps us going and keeps us moving through every day.
By bringing our awareness to the breath and just noticing how it feels,
Noticing its texture and all the elements of the breath that make it up to be what it is.
When we focus on this we take our focus away from the busyness of our mind,
The busyness of our to-do lists,
Maybe that anticipation of the future or that rumination of the past.
We don't need to step into either of those places because they don't exist.
The past is over and the future has yet to happen.
So let us rather get comfortable in the now,
Right here,
Right now,
The only place that life exists.
And so as you go about your day,
When you find yourself getting stressed about things that are yet to happen or when you find yourself worrying about things that have already passed,
Take a moment and find a quiet space to gently lower your gaze,
Place a hand on your belly and feel the breath move in and out your body.
Notice the breath.
And if you find yourself getting a little bit anxious or overwhelmed or stressed,
You can just take a few deep cleansing breaths,
Breathing in deeply through the nose and holding it at the top for a few seconds and then gently exhaling through the mouth,
Through pursed lips.
And repeating that a few times will help you come back into presence with the breath,
Will take your attention away from the thing that you're stressing about or worrying about and just temporarily bring your focus back into your body and use that as many times as you need to come back into presence.
Let's just finish off with a few cleansing breaths together.
We're going to do three cleansing inhales,
Hold at the top for a few seconds and then an exhale through pursed lips.
Taking a deep breath in,
Here we go,
Inhale,
Hold at the top,
Exhale.
I'm just extending that exhale so that it's longer than the inhale,
Will help you lower your heart rate,
Bring your body back into homeostasis if you're feeling a little bit stressed.
Let's do two more like that,
Deep breath in,
Hold at the top,
Exhale.
Deep breath in,
Hold at the top,
Exhale.
And just allow your breathing to return to normal.
Gently open your eyes or lift your gaze and as you go about your day today just remembering that you have life and what an absolute gift that is.
Go gently and have a beautiful day.
My name is Kat from The Physical Evolution,
Signing out.
Bye for now.
